Containers for temporarily protecting their contents from damage from external heat sources, such as fire, are well known. Such containers are said in the art to be fire-resistant and typically are rated for integrity over a specific exposure temperature and/or time. These types of containers typically include a locking mechanism and therefore are known as fire-resistant safes. Various types of fire-resistant safes are available from John D. Brush & Co., Inc, d/b/a/ Sentry Group, Rochester, N.Y. 14625, USA.
A typical fire-resistant safe includes a lid and a base that are pivotally coupled to one another to define an internal compartment therebetween. The lid and base are typically blow-molded to form a hollow space formed between inner and outer shells. The hollow space defined between the inner and outer shells is filled with a non-combustible, fire-proof thermally-insulating material such as hydrated Portland cement. Some examples of existing fire-resistant safes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,290 to Brush, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,447 to Robbins et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,092 to Beattie et al., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In addition to providing protection against fire damage, it may also be desirable to protect the contents stored within the interior compartment of a safe against damage from water or moisture entering from outside the safe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,092 to Beattie et al. describes a fire and water-resistant safe that includes a gasket positioned at the interface between the lid and the base of the safe when in a closed position. In particular, the '092 patent shows the gasket being positioned within a U-shaped channel defined in the lid having one exposed surface for contacting a corresponding raised sealing portion extending from the base to create a water-resistant seal.
In order to create the water-resistant seal between the lid and the base in the '092 patent, the lid is first moved to a closed position relative to the base so the exposed surface of the gasket is in contact with the raised sealing portion extending from the base. At this point, the gasket is merely resting on the raised sealing portion due to gravity, and the gasket and the raised sealing portion are not in a fully sealed position. In order to fully seal the gasket and raised sealing portion, the lid and the base must be drawn closer together by moving a safe locking mechanism to a locked position, or in some other fashion, such as by ratcheting the lid and the base together, so that the gasket is squeezed against the raised sealing portion. Fully sealing the gasket and the raised sealing portion prevents the entry of water into the interior compartment of the safe.
One drawback of the arrangement disclosed in the '092 patent is that it is difficult to fully seal the gasket with the raised sealing portion. In moving the lid and base toward the fully sealed position, the gasket has a tendency to deform from its original shape when pressed against the raised sealing portion. Given the orientation of the U-shaped channel that the gasket is positioned within, the gasket is generally permitted to deform in one direction when the gasket is drawn against the raised surface portion, which happens to be in the direction of the raised surface portion. Therefore, as a user is applying a force to move the lid closer to the base so that the gasket is in contact with the raised surface portion, the deformation of the gasket creates a resistive force that opposes the user's closing force thereby making it difficult to place the gasket and raised surface portion in a fully sealed position to resist the entry of water into the interior compartment of the safe. As such, a user typically needs to apply a significant amount of force on the lid of the safe to compress the gasket enough so that the safe can be placed in a locked position to maintain the gasket and the raised surface portion in the fully sealed position. Moreover, if the gasket remains in the fully sealed position for a prolonged period of time, the significant force that is imposed on the gasket in this position has a tendency to permanently deform the gasket from its original shape thereby reducing the operational life of the gasket.
Accordingly, there is a need for a water-resistant safe that provides less resistance when placed in a fully sealed water resistant position. There is also a need to prolong the operational life of a gasket provided in a water-resistant safe. The present invention fulfills this need as well as other needs.